Puzzle Description:

A white mouse

#1: Beth (Shasta) on Apr 3, 2008 [SPOILER]

In my house it would be dinner! (for my cat) Thanks

I have to be the pest and say that if it's a white mouse, it's definitely a pet, or pet food. White doesn't naturally select in your average mouse infestation.

This imsage did not jump out at me. Interesting to solve though.

Cool picture Marcus. Funny title too. :)

I agree with both Shasta and Scylla on this one. It would be for the cat but not for dinner. He would make a pet out of it until he wore it out. Then he would mourn the loss.

Rats on the other tail are pests in my eyes. Sorry to all the rat lovers in the world.

Thanks for the puzzle! ^<^

It feels like the ear on the left side of the picture got cut off.

The ear is just turned, that's all. The left side of the puzzle was impossible to solve.

Not impossible. Check out the new "Advanced Puzzle Solving Techniques" link at the top of the "FAQ" page.

The left side is definitely solvable. I essentially used "edge logic" to help determine the position of the top blue squares in column 6, where the edge, rather than being the boundary of the puzzle, was an internal boundary formed by the parts of the puzzle already solved (all the columns to the right of column 6)

In a way I agree with Adam...it isn't solvable unless you do what I call "trial and error"...and as a great great surprise to me (it has never happened to me before)when I reached that point in the puzzle, I chose a square to arbitrarily color blue and the rest of the puzzle was completely solvable by ordinary methods!!!! On the first try! No reverts!!!! The square to color blue when all possible squares have been filled in by ordinary logic is square #6 in the first row...the entire rest of the puzzle quickly unfolds. Try it!

...and now I'm off to read about "Advanced Puzzle Solving Techniques". I checked out the BB when I first came several weeks ago, but that day I very much wanted to get solving so I left and never did get back to reading much of anything.

I'm very excited because I've never had lessons and hope this helps my perspective on some puzzles that I call Vast White Wastelands lol! How fun to maybe be able to finally solve some of them without all the tedium of the only way I figured out to do it!

I agree that boundary logic works in the upper left hand corner. but what is the white blob? Was that just to make the puzzle harder? Or is it the paw of a white cat getting ready to scoop up the mouse? ;)

The "white blob" in the top left hand corner was an aesthetic compromise. The puzzle would have been too simple with a solid blue background, so I had it fade to white in the top left hand corner to make the puzzle a bit more challenging. I agree that it results in a final image that isn't completely satisfying.

It was still fun to solve, as usual!

I was doing well with this puzzle until I got to the top left corner. It got me, but I finally figured it out. Good job. Cute mouse, wish they were all cute and cuddly, instead of pests. They are pests in my book because I used to have a couple in my house.

They are definately definately PETS.
Especially the white ones.

I worked at too many research labs and pet stores to see them otherwise.
Poor things.

Remembering little mousie specially today, this puzzle got to my heart!

I think the eye placement is a little off. A little higher and perhaps a little more to the right would make it more recognizable.

I also had trouble with the upper left and would suppose what I used could be called edge logic. There was only one solution that worked.

cute

When line and color logic peters out, you are left with a rectangular unsolved block from c1-6 and r1-15. There are only two pixels marked within: r7c3-4 are blue.

This one can be solved with internal deep edge logic.

Edge logic is used on the edges of a puzzle and takes advantage of the fact that you know which direction any clue has to go (as it can't go outside the grid). Internal edge logic is the same, but using clues that are blocked by dots (or a different color) rather than the edge of the puzzle.

Edge logic is normally used to look at the effect on the row or column next to the one with the clue you're trying to place. Deep edge logic looks at rows even farther away.

Internal edge logic on the 7 in c6 says that it can extend from r1-7, r2-8, r3-9 or r8-15. Unfortunately, the overlaps mean that nothing can be definitively ruled out.

However, if you extend your looking beyond c5 to c4, you can see that the 7 cannot be in r8-15. If it were, it would produce a one-pixel vertical block in r12c4. (Blocked off by the 2s in r11&13). Since there is already a pixel marked above this, it could not be the 1 in c4, and thus is an error.
So, the 7 in c6 can only be within r1-9. c6r10-15 is white. The rest solves with line logic.

cats like them.. a lot. a cat won't share a mouse, not even with a bff. A momma cat will share with kittens up to a certain age; then kittens have to catch their own

Adorable

Difficult to solve, but internal edge logic (#18) solves it. I solved it the same way as Joe.

The picture is also splendid as always.
First I thought the two upper black parts were its eyes, but now I see.

Goto next topic

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